Marco Polo
1254-1324
Italian Merchant
Marco Polo's extensive travels led him to China, where he spent 17 years and established himself as an official in the Mongolian court. He recorded his experiences in Il milione, or "The Million," a classic of travel literature known in English as "The Travels of Marco Polo."
Polo was the son of an itinerant merchant. His father, Niccolò, and uncle, Maffeo, spent many years traveling and trading before Marco was born. In fact Marco was around the age of 15 or 16 when he first met his own father. By then Niccolò had established great wealth for his family, though whether or not he was an actual member of the aristocracy is unclear.
Little is known of Polo's early years in Venice, however, details are abundant once his travels began. Polo's father had years earlier established a good relationship with the Mongol court and the Emperor Kublai Khan. Niccolò and Maffeo had originally been sent back to Europe as papal ambassadors for the emperor. In 1271 the Polos, with Marco in tow, set out to return. Accompanied by two friars, they departed from Acre to deliver papal letters to Kublai Khan. However, the friars soon abandoned the party, leaving the three Polos to continue on their own to China.
In 1272 the Polos most likely made their way through the territory that is now eastern Turkey and northern Iran. To avoid taking the sea passage to India, the party chose to travel over land to the Mongol capital. It took them a couple of years, but in around 1274 they reached their destination and presented their patron, Kublai Khan, with sacred oil from Jerusalem as well as papal letters.
The Polo family stayed in the Mongolian empire for the next 16 or 17 years. It was there that Marco seemed to endear himself to the emperor. This personal association afforded him certain responsibilities, including being sent on fact-finding missions to remote parts of the territory. Research suggests that aside from his travel assignments, Marco was also a sort of government official.
Around 1292 the Polos, hoping to once again see their home and their families, offered to accompany a Mongol princess to Persia. Although Kublai Khan was reluctant, he finally granted his permission, and their fleet of 14 ships set sail, eventually arriving in Venice in 1295.
In 1298, while on another voyage, Marco was apprehended by the Genoese. He was sent to Genoa and locked in a prison. It was there that he met Rustichello, a prisoner from Pisa who was a writer. As he was not at ease with the Venetian or Franco-Italian language, Marco dictated the story of his travels, the basis of Il milione, to Rustichello.
Because Polo's account was written before the time of the printing press, copies of the book were made by hand. This left the door open for subsequent scribes and translators to take liberties with the content. Today there is no known authentic copy of Il milione.
Once completed, the book, later published as Divisament dou Monde (Description of the world), was an instant success. It included details of the politics, agriculture, military power, economy, sexual practices, religions, and other customs of the Far East. Polo lived a reclusive existence sustained by a modest fortune until he died at the age of 70.
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